Armored Core: SEED Factor
by Chaos Invoker
Summary: As Alliance and Vertex lie on the brink of war, a young Raven finds the legendary Archangel in the ruins of Orb. Takes place during Last Raven and decades after SEED Destiny.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Angel's Tomb

Meet Reia Azuchi, 22 years old. A veteran Raven of 2 years, he'd lived through both the Silent Line incident and the unmanned suicide weapons' attack. And in the impending war between Vertex and the Alliance, he cast his lot with the latter – the corporations were known for being self-serving, yes, but Jack-O, Vertex's leader, seemed to want war for the sake of it. His philosophy and ideology seemed to be "Ravens for Ravens, the rest of humanity be damned". At least the Alliance _seemed_ to care.

It was on one fateful mission that he would get the biggest shock of his life. One that would force him to rethink everything he believed in and stood for as a Raven. In short... Reia's world would be turned upside down.

Nothing would ever be the same.

"_We'd like you to investigate the ruins on Onogoro Island._

_As I'm sure you know, Onogoro was the capital of the Orb Union at least 250 years ago, before the Cold Kiss colony drop destroyed most of the surface world. It is also rumored to be the final resting place of the legendary warship Archangel._

_The credibility of this rumor isn't that certain, but if it were true, the Archangel and whatever spoils she may hold qualify as valuable pieces of lost technology. And if it were to fall into Vertex's hands, the world would be plunged into ruin._

_Your mission is to investigate the ruins and report back. It is unknown what enemies you may encounter, so outfit your AC as you deem fit. Good luck, and godspeed."_

The briefing still rang in his head as he navigated through what seemed to be an abandoned factory. Though left mostly intact, the whole place really _did_ look like it got bombed; scattered all over were what appeared to be AC parts – head, cores, and even the occasional shield. He'd been lucky enough not to encounter any hostiles thus far, especially since scavengers and terrorists were known for using places like these as outposts. Phantoms and specters from ages past, maybe – but even that was doubtful, not least because Reia wasn't known for being a superstitious young man.

Even still, he did realize that he was bound to encounter some MTs, if nothing else. Considering what was rumored to lie here, it was safe to assume that the Archangel, if indeed it rested here, would be heavily guarded. It was for that reason that he came in Fenriswulfr, or Fenris for short, his first and best AC – a middleweight blend of firepower and durability that could give even OP-I- and PLUS-enhanced units a good fight. After all, if he turned out to be right and there _was_ something guarding the place, he'd want to live to tell the tale.

Finally, he came across a gigantic set of double doors. On the right was a panel, which held a switch in addition to an inscription that glowed faintly blue. Upon closer examination, it read:

"_Behind this door lies a sleeping angel, one with the power to protect or to destroy. While we would rather she never be awakened again, it is our sincerest wish that whoever opens this door upholds everything she had fought for."_

_Poetic words, but a bit too melodramatic_, thought the Raven as he operated the switch. The doors opened…

…And as the doors opened and the facility's lights came on, Reia gasped, awestruck. He'd read about the Bloody Valentine Wars as a student, but here was proof that they had actually taken place: the Archangel was here, looking every bit as magnificent as her namesake. Neither the passage of time nor the tragedy that shattered the world appeared to make a difference on the ship. Today could easily have been her maiden flight. He couldn't stop himself circling the warship of legend in his awe.

Just then, though, his AC's AI made an announcement.

"_Warning: AC Raging Torrent IV detected._"

"_The unit is equipped with a high thermal stress-inducing EO weapon. Mobile attack maneuvers are recommended._"

He turned around; true enough, in front of him stood a heavyweight, sand-yellow AC equipped with a laser rifle as well as orbit cannons. It was Caspian, alright, one of the most overrated Ravens working for Alliance. His fellow pilots did in fact hold him in high regard, but the simple truth was that he wasn't half as skilled as one would expect. A good chunk of his battlefield successes were thanks to the ECM MTs he brought to mess with the opponent's radar. _Which means,_ thought Reia -

_Oh, crap._

No less than ten of them appeared behind Caspian, energy weapons all aimed at Reia and Fenris. None of them warranted a serious threat on their own; not only could Fenris take hits, it could return them many times over, too. But with these many enemies, those hits would add up real fast. And from the looks of things, he couldn't just run away, either; his AC wasn't fast enough, and he couldn't expect Caspian and his flunkies to politely step aside. With a grim smile on his face, Reia activated the LX laser cannon on Fenris's back.

"Seriously?" Reia exclaimed as he opened communications with the other Raven. "All of them just for _me_? Dude," he wondered aloud, "Has anyone told you you fight like a girl?"

But Caspian just laughed. "HQ told me not to underestimate you. And besides," he sneered back, "There's no 'fair' for us Ravens. As long as I defeat you, the mission's a success." With that, he fired off opening shots both from his laser rifle and his Exceed Orbit system.

Reia opted to focus on the MTs first; since they were making it very difficult to lock on, taking them out would help even the odds. Deftly he dashed and boost-hopped to each of them, dispatching them with either his machine gun or energy blade while doing his best to evade their attacks. Before long, only the AC remained… but at this point, Reia and Fenris were pretty banged up, too. And, just then, the cockpit shook violently, winding him as Caspian managed to get in quite a few cheap shots.

"You son of a bitch…" muttered Reia as he prepared to fire the LX. But nothing happened. _Why_…?

The readout on the bottom-right corner of his cockpit's screen answered his question; the energy gauge was completely drained! Even worse, his AP had dropped to below 2000. Any more would be the end for him. Just then, though, his AC picked up a transmission from an unknown source. Reia had no idea who it was, but the complete lack of static told him it came from nearby. She (the voice sounded very much feminine) gave him a command with a clear sense of urgency:

"_Get to the Archangel, hurry!_"

"What –" he argued, but the woman on the other end cut him off. "_Quickly, there's no time!_"

The Archangel was directly behind Reia's current position. He desperately began to bunnyhop backwards into the ship's right 'leg', which had opened up for him to enter. To his immense relief, he succeeded – just as Caspian fired a damaging shot directly at Fenris's core.

"_Danger, AP at 10%_."

As he entered what appeared to be a hangar of ACs, Reia noticed three of them, a gold unit standing between two dull-grey hued ones. The one on the left came equipped with at least two rifles underneath a pair of vestigial wings, while the other appeared to have no weapons. And again the female voice came.

"_Get into the one on the right,_" she said. "_Don't worry, I'll take care of you._"

Reia ejected from Fenris, which had been reduced to little more than a smoking, smoldering wreck. A few moments later, the young Raven entered the unit in question. The cockpit was very similar to that of his AC, save for a small, red button right in front of him marked 'Phase Shift'. Also, on the monitor, instead of the status of his remaining energy and ammunition, was a meter that showed just how much battery power was left. _Wait. So these things run on battery power!?_

And as he powered it on, the console directly below the monitor came to life, displaying a start-up screen:

**MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM**

**///Version NV8 - N099////**  
**G**eneral  
**U**nilateral  
**N**euro - Link  
**D**ispersive  
**A**utonomic  
**M**aneuver  
**G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System**

**O.M.N.I. Enforcer**

_'Gundam', huh?_ thought Reia with a bemused smile as he read the word formed by the OS's acronym. He couldn't resist; the name sounded kinda impressive and intimidating.

More importantly, he that even the interface wasn't that much different from the ACs he had become accustomed to - much to his amazement and relief. If he was right, this one was the GAT-X105 Strike. According to the history books, the Strike and its pilot was half of the reason the old Earth Alliance hadn't been overwhelmed despite being badly outgunned by ZAFT - the other half being the Archangel itself. At any rate, he was confident he could pilot this thing just as competently as he could an AC - maybe even better, once he'd gotten used to it._  
_

"_That thing out there_," the woman began as Reia walked the AC to the catapult, "_It's not a very fast unit, is it? I'm giving you the Launcher Striker, then,_" she explained as what she was referring to – a large, handheld cannon and shoulder-mounted machine cannons – were attached to the left arm and right shoulder of the unit, respectively. This configuration was obviously one optimized for bombardment operations. Reia grinned as his guess turned out to be correct.

"_The firepower should be enough for this. Oh, and,_" she added, "_When you go out, press the Phase Shift button, alright?_"

"Alright," he said as the catapult opened again. "One last thing, though," Reia remembered to ask, "What should I call you? I'm Reia, by the way."

"_It's Murrue,_" replied the woman. "_X105 Strike, you're cleared to launch!_"

Reia stepped on the pedal in front of him, activating the boosters as well as the Phase Shift armor as he leapt out of the ship. As he pushed the button, the suit's colors changed from metallic gray to white, blue and red. And, right across him, Caspian felt a sense of fear and apprehension creep up his spine.

_What the hell IS that thing?!_

The haughty Alliance Raven didn't have time to think as the enemy let loose a massive blast from its cannon.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Reawakened Resolve

As he and Caspian battled, it quickly became apparent to Reia that his unit held numerous advantages over his opponent's AC. For one thing, despite its current configuration having been optimized for heavy assault, the Strike was capable of dodging Raging Torrent's orbit cannons, Exceed Orbits and SHADE rifle with relative ease. In addition, oncoming missiles were shot down by the shoulder-mounted machine cannons before they even _came close_ to finding their mark.

_He's probably wetting himself in his cockpit now,_ thought Reia with a smirk. As he expected, the main (and probably only) reason Caspian managed to rack up a kill count was thanks to the ECM units on the MTs he usually brought for backup. And since Fenris had taken care of them earlier, it would be easy for him to finish off the cocky bastard with Strike. He raised the cannon on his left arm, but –

_Dammit,_ thought Reia as he slapped himself. _I should've seen that one coming._

Caspian managed to blow up the cannon with a well-placed laser. Even then, though, his elation was short-lived as a fighter jet, mounting thrusters on its back as well as a beam rifle and shield on its wings, launched from the Archangel. He didn't have time to just stare at it, either; only seconds after launching, the fighter began bombarding him with laser fire both from its main cannon as well as the mounted rifle.

"_Hey, kid_," Reia started as the new voice, which he assumed was the fighter pilot, contacted him. "_Discard the Launcher Pack and turn off the Phase Shift now. I'm giving you the one I'm using_," he directed, confirming Reia's deduction in the process. Obediently he discarded the shoulder-mounted cannons and deactivated the Phase Shift armor, waiting for his new weapons to arrive.

Sure enough, as the fighter flew by, it too jettisoned the equipment it had been carrying; the back thrusters attached themselves to the Strike while the rifle and shield found their place in its rear skirt armor and left hand, respectively. With the equipment change complete, Reia reactivated the Phase Shift, in the process restoring Strike's distinctive color scheme.

"_That there's the Aile pack_," explained the fighter pilot. "_You should be able to outmaneuver that punk now!_" he added as he returned to the Archangel. Filled with renewed resolve, Reia pulled out one of the Aile pack's beam sabers as he lunged forward with a slash aimed at the torso. Caspian really _did_ wet himself as he prepared for death…

…But instead, the saber went through his right arm, severing it at the elbow and depriving the AC of its laser rifle. Likewise the entire left arm got chopped off as well, leaving the AC entirely defenseless. Assured his opponent was no longer a threat, Reia contacted him. "Hello, Caspian," he said pleasantly. "No need to be scared – I just wanted to talk."

"I won't kill you here," this he added with a smile that turned into a chuckle as his defeated opponent's jaw dropped. "I want you to tell the Alliance this: they'd better not get any ideas about capturing the Archangel for themselves." He could hear the conviction in his voice as he stated his warning. "If they insist on trying, _we_ won't go down without a fight."

"Can you tell them that?" he asked as he finished, giving a satisfied smile as Caspian nodded. "Good…" nodded Reia as he took the beam rifle and, with a great feeling of vindictive pleasure shot out both of the AC's legs, adding insult to injury. His work done, he returned to the Archangel, which had taken flight in the meantime. The overhead shutters opened as the warship launched, allowing the sun to come shining in. A moment later, it literally disappeared into thin air.

Reia then got out of the Strike's cockpit, only to find both a brown-haired woman and a tall, blond man in a purple pilot suit – most likely the fighter pilot – waiting for him, both with smiles on their faces. As they got a look at his face, though, their smiles turned into expressions of shock; the woman rushed forward and hugged him tightly, like a mother being reunited with her child. Reia broke away from her and tilted his head in puzzlement, waiting for the two to say something as they walked to the bridge.

Finally, when they had gotten there several awkward moments later, the fighter pilot spoke. "Y'know kid, I'm not surprised you fight like that suit's original owner," he noted offhandedly, referring to the unit Reia piloted earlier."You not only fight like him, you _look_ like him, too! Isn't that right, Murrue?" he asked her as he put an arm around her.

"Yeah," nodded Murrue in assent. "You look _exactly_ like our Kira," she agreed, smiling fondly as her eyes turned misty. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were him…" she added as her eyes welled with tears, trailing away as the fighter pilot hugged her. Reia's eyes were on him now; he had one very good guess as to who he was. "If she's Murrue," he said slowly, "Then that would mean you're –"

"I guess you've heard of us then, kid," the other pilot grinned jovially as he spread his arms wide. "Yeah, Mu La Flaga here, very nice to meet you. Now, then," Mu's tone suddenly became businesslike, "Mind telling us what year this is? The Archangel woke us up when you came over to visit."

Reia told them everything he knew: how the surface world had been destroyed by the colony drop, forcing humans to live underground under the thumb of a ruthless, despotic AI as well as greedy, amoral corporate executives. How the surface eventually became livable again as the corporations took their power struggle to the next level. He told them about Jack-O's declaration of war, and how he had joined up with the Alliance. Finally, he told them about how he had been sent here to confirm the Archangel's presence, and that Caspian had apparently been sent to kill him. As he spoke, Murrue's brow furrowed.

"So Kira and the others couldn't stop it, then…" she noted sadly, though Reia had no idea what the Archangel's captain was referring to. "And now those corporations you were mentioning want the Archangel for themselves?" She gave Mu a bitter smile as she spoke once more. "We've been awakened to fight another war?"

"Take it easy," Mu told her in his most reassuring bedside voice. "If that kid's heard of us, I suppose he also knows better than to ask us that." He looked directly at Reia now. "So, kid, what are you planning?"

"I've read about you guys," Reia admitted, smiling, "You managed to end both Bloody Valentine Wars, right?" The couple nodded their confirmation, not that he needed it. After a short pause, he continued:

"Maybe we could stop this war, too. I'd have simply hijacked the Archangel," he admitted, "But having the both of you around is even better – you guys have a reputation. I can't be the only Raven who's tired of this pointless fighting, and I'm damned sure some of my fellows feel the same way. What do you guys think?" he asked when he finished.

The two thought about it for a moment before Mu nodded slowly, a small smile on his face. "Assuming you're not lying, you're more like Kira than I thought," he noted, blue eyes gleaming as he remembered an old friend. "Well… Alright, kid," he agreed, "But if it turns out you _are_ lying after all," he warned. "I'll –"

"Of course," laughed Reia reassuringly as he unzipped the jacket he was wearing; now that the fight was over, he could finally get a bit of rest. "Mind showing me to my room?" He asked both of them.

Meanwhile, at Alliance's Tartus Headquarters, the footage of Caspian's humiliating defeat at the hands of Reia and the Strike was being reviewed in a small, dark conference room. When the TV screen flickered off as the video ended, the dark-haired man closest to it, Evangel, looked at Caspian – whose face was still buried in his hands in his embarrassment – with an expression of mingled embarrassment and disappointment.

"Being beaten by an old fossil, that was humiliating," noted Evangel tonelessly; all who were present laughed at this. "But after the way you've been boasting out of your ass, you probably deserved that."

"Well, _sir_," Caspian retorted, his brilliant blue eyes filled with resentment at the laugh they just had at his expense. "I doubt you could've done better. You've seen the video, you know his unit was… - _gah!_" he punched the table in frustration as the younger man beside him – Jouster, another of Alliance's Ravens and probably his closest friend among them – tried to calm him down. Given how much of an advantage Reia's commandeered unit had over his AC, he had been lucky to come out alive.

"And you've seen how that thing moved, that didn't seem like a fossil to me!" Caspian added defiantly. But to his surprise, Evangel gave a gentle, understanding smile.

"I know that," he admitted. "I never said you were sloppy, only that you deserved it. Lord knows you've had that coming for a while now... Somehow I feel like patting Reia on the back and thanking him," he added jokingly, unmindful of the murderous glare Caspian was giving him as the conference room once more erupted with laughter.

"Well, look on the bright side!" he suddenly brightened, looking at his fellow Ravens and subordinates. "At least we know who's _not_ coming back anytime soon… _And_ what we're up against. When the time comes, we'll bury that ship for good. What do you guys think?"

All but one of the Ravens present yelled their assent at this. The only one who didn't, a young man with untidy, coffee-brown hair, gave a snort of disgust. This was all too typical of Evangel.

_The Archangel, huh…?_

This he thought while still staring at the TV screen, now completely black. Like Reia and, for that matter, most of his peers, he had studied the Bloody Valentine Wars in his days as a student and knew what that ship had stood for in those wars. He wasn't planning on leaving Alliance right this minute. However, if the Archangel had indeed risen again...

_Guess I might have to file my resignation soon._

After all, some Ravens only joined factions for the money, right?

tbc


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: An Interlude

"_Reia Azuchi. A skilled Raven born in the residential area of Old Layered shortly before the Silent Line incident, he showed remarkable potential at AC operation from the relatively young age of 16. At age 17, he joined both his parents in Mirage's Lost Technology Excavation Division, having been fascinated with the Bloody Valentine Wars since childhood."_

"_Worked primarily with the Research and IT Department until acquiring his Raven license 3 years later. Survivor of the Unknowns' attack, although both his parents were confirmed to have perished. Joined the newly formed Alliance's Tactical Unit as one of its first members, and was among its top pilots until his mission to Onogoro. Former pilot of the heavy assault quad AC Fenriswulfr before switching to the excavated GAT-X105 Strike."_

"_Height: 5'4. Weight: 138 lbs. Hair color: brown. Eye color: purple. 22 years old," _the computer finished its monotone recital of Reia's personnel data. Evangel sat there, staring at the monitor as he thought of their former comrade. To him, the young Raven's life looked like a series of convenient coincidences. Seriously, to have been greatly interested in those wars, and then to get hold of _that_ unit along with the Archangel…? It was as if Fate decided to play a practical joke on him, given how much he resembled a _certain_ legendary pilot – not just in looks, but also in his combat skill.

Evangel chuckled to himself as he reflected further on the young man's background. Given the special… circumstances Reia originated from, Evangel thought it interesting and mildly amusing he wound up reawakening the Archangel _and_ piloting the Strike. _That boy,_ he thought, excitement and tension welling up in him. _Could he be…?_

_A Dominant…?_

Evangel was jolted from this reverie as someone knocked on his door. "Come in," he called. When the door opened, he saw it was Eon, one of his subordinates in the Alliance Tactical Unit as well as Reia's replacement. All in all he could easily have mistaken him for the latter, if not for the striking blue eyes in place of Reia's purple ones.

A moment later, however, Evangel must have realized how ridiculous he must look to his junior, since he quickly composed himself and smiled evenly at the younger man. "Ah, Eon," he began, his voice carrying its usual relaxed, briefing-room tone. He had a relatively easy mission for the neophyte, one involving the defense of Borne City. It was somewhat demeaning, to be sure, but no one else was available – and that city happened to contain many of Alliance's most important donors.

At this, Eon saluted. "What is it, sir?" he inquired of his superior. "You said you had a mission to give me?"

"I'd like you to go on standby in Borne City," Evangel explained. "Though we haven't detected any movements, rumors are flying around that one of the warlords is going to attack." He wasn't at all surprised that Eon's eyes widened at this. He knew for a fact that the kid hated involving civilians more than anything else. Not that he liked it much, either, but sometimes it was inevitable with the way they took sides. After a moment, he continued:

"As you know, a good number of our financial backers reside there, and we'd rather not have anything happen to them. Not to mention," Evangel added, looking intently at Eon as he spoke, "I know for a fact your sisters are there... right?"

Eon nodded; though his face was impassive, he was bound to feel worried for his family underneath the stoic mask. The elder Raven must have begun to feel the younger pilot's fear, since he said, "Don't worry, it's still just a rumor!" his tone becoming lighter and more reassuring.

"You really shouldn't worry too much about things like that," gently scolded the senior Raven. "If you do, it might just come true."

"Hell no!" Eon quietly retorted, his voice dripping with fear and a hint of rage. His stepsisters were his reason for joining Alliance in the first place, his reason for carrying out the dirty work of a mercenary. And he sure as hell wasn't gonna let some greedy bastards involve them in their stupid war. Evangel grinned approvingly as he nodded.

"I thought not. Just be there as soon as possible. You can get out of your AC and go around if you wish, but be ready in the event the attack _does_ happen."

Reia, too, was on his way there in the Aile Strike, though for very different reasons. The moment the Archangel had gotten out of the ruins at Onogoro, he requested Murrue's permission to contact Stellaluna Eversor, his handler. After enduring at least ten minutes of her berating him on how he should have contacted sooner, she ordered him to meet up at the Looming Dusk, the same coffee shop where she had recruited him. For some reason, she sounded rather emotional at the time, too – as opposed to the deadpan manner characteristic of most operators.

As Reia was on his way, he felt a small surge of gratitude towards Murrue and Mu: both for their trust, however conditional it was, as well as letting him go. What if the ship was attacked by Alliance or some other force while he was here? And then he suddenly remembered just how important a role that ship played in the wars she had been in – not to mention that Mu was there in case things went wrong. Not only was he an excellent fighter pilot, he knew for a fact one of the units on board the Archangel was his.

_Look at me,_ he thought, relieved and slightly embarrassed. _Worrying for a warship that's survived so much! Reia, what's gotten into you?_

Finally, when Reia recognized the shop's familiar orange signpost, he landed and ejected from his machine, turning off the Phase Shift as he did so. It didn't take long for him to find her; she was over in the left corner furthest from the door. The deep-red hair she wore in pigtails could be recognized a mile away. "Hey, Stella," he began. "I'm sorry –"

He wasn't able to finish his apology, though, as Stella's punched him in the face; at the neighboring table, the twin girls accompanied by a man his age were giggling. When he looked at her, her normally friendly, coffee-brown eyes held a quiet rage that was frightening to behold. "Don't EVER do that again," she warned him. "Otherwise, you'll get worse from me!"

"Geez, alright…" Reia rubbed his cheek at the spot where Stella punched him. In an attempt to placate her, he signaled a passing waitress for two iced coffees, which he knew his operator and partner (she occasionally accompanied him on missions, being quite a capable AC pilot herself) liked very much. It was one of the things that took him completely by surprise at first, how to handle Stella in one of her rages. The good thing was that all he usually had to do was give in to her caprices. In effect, he spoiled her rotten - more than any other Raven would their operator, anyway.

But they had barely begun sipping from their coffee when a distant explosion rocked the area. This was then followed by an urgent announcement over the city's PA system: "_Attention, all citizens. The city is currently under attack by terrorists. Please evacuate to the nearest shelter in an orderly fashion._"

Reia swore aloud as he felt a sickening rage build in the pit of his stomach. _Bastards_, he thought. _What on earth are you going after these people for?_ He was repulsed and disgusted beyond belief at the idea of Alliance claiming to work for peace and order on one hand, and attacking civilians on the other. He suddenly wished he hadn't spared Caspian just a few days earlier.

And then he remembered: Evangel had once mentioned that this city was a known resident for Alliance supporters, which somehow made him doubt that they were behind this. Neither did he think Vertex would want to damage their cause by doing something so reckless. _One of the warlords, then… but which?_

Reia looked at Stella and nodded. Taking her by the hand, the two ran outside to where Reia had left the Strike and leapt into the cockpit, Stella in Reia's lap. As the cockpit's systems booted up, Stella's mouth dropped open in astonishment; she'd heard him talk about this before, but actually _being_ in the Strike's cockpit was a whole new experience. "Is this really - ?" she began.

"No time for that now," Reia cut her off as he activated the Phase Shift. "We're heading into battle, hang tight!" His right foot stomped on the pedal, causing the Aile Striker's thrusters to take off with a roar. Behind them, the young man with the twin girls watched, shocked.

_So that's him, then…_ thought Eon. "Girls, get to the shelter!" he ordered his sisters as White Comet, his AC, landed in front of them. "Don't worry," he looked back at them with a grin as he prepared to board his unit. "I won't let them hurt you." Kicking the AC into high gear, he too boosted to join the Strike, which had already begun its counterattack on the reverse-joint MTs that were attacking. _I haven't been told what to do with him yet. If he's defending the city, I'll help… for now._

Likewise, Reia thought the same thing as he saw the red-and-white AC approaching from behind. "Hey, kid," he contacted White Comet. "Let's drive these idiots out, shall we?" this as he let loose a volley of shots from his beam rifle, which all scored, reducing no less than five of the MTs to scrap. A sixth launched a volley of missiles at White Comet from behind, which he blocked with Strike's shield. His retaliatory beam shot sent that MT to join its fellows in oblivion.

Just as Eon destroyed his seventh MT, his AC warned him of reinforcements. And sure enough, there they were: no less than a dozen Crest-manufactured humanoid MTs, each of which had defensive stats more appropriate for a middleweight AC. And sure enough, the rounds from his dual M2 machine guns merely burrowed into their thick armor, instead of tearing it to shreds. His succeeding micro missile salvo blew one of them up,

Likewise, Reia found that that same armor could mostly disperse the shots from his beam rifle. The MTs' reprisals, in the form of a volley of bazooka shells, caught him before he had a chance to react. And while the Phase Shift armor reduced the damage to a few dents here and there, his remaining battery power had plummeted from 80% to 64% - only a bit over half capacity. "We should regroup," he radioed Eon, who obeyed. In the meantime, Reia stored the beam rifle on the Strike's rear skirt armor, in its place pulling out one of the beam sabers stored in the Aile Striker.

"Follow my lead," he directed his fellow Raven as he brandished his beam rifle. No sooner had Reia said that than the Strike swooped down at the MTs, bisecting exactly six of them at the waist.

"Alright." Eon landed on one of the buildings as he fired a salvo of micro missiles from his left shoulder-mounted KINNARA, which exploded in the air and rained destruction on the attacking forces below. He then turned up his Over Boost, causing the AC to swoop down on the remaining enemies which he proceeded to spam his dual machine guns on. All remaining targets were destroyed by the time he had deactivated his OB and landed beside the Strike. Instead of pride at what they just accomplished, however, both pilots felt something was seriously wrong.

"Why…" Reia began. "Just that many?" Even if he had brought Fenris instead of Strike, an attack force that small was nowhere near enough. Either he was arrogant and full of himself, or he was overestimating his fellow Ravens, but he couldn't recall any of the warlords being that stupid – however lacking they were where morals were concerned.

"Dunno," Eon answered, panting. "Maybe they didn't expect us to be here."

Just then, however, _something_ came their way, presumably a blast from a linear rifle. "Watch it!" shot Reia at his fellow Raven, who only barely managed to dodge. The two of them turned in the direction the round had come from.

Two ACs were there, a reverse-jointed one as well as a quad. The former had a purple paint job, missiles on its back, as well a linear rifle and sniper rifle in its right and left hands, respectively. The quadruped, meanwhile, was equipped with dual FINGER machine guns, a chaingun, and a MAGORAGA micro missile launcher - which, while inferior to the KINNARA mounted on Eon's AC, still offered some substantial firepower.

Reia turned to the other Raven at the sight. "Think we can handle this?" he asked. He was still getting the hang of Strike, but he liked what he had experienced so far. The beam rifle was the equivalent of the ubiquitous Karasawa plasma rifle, and the speed could put most lightweights to shame. But if he was gonna beat these bastards, he needed the other pilot's help. To his pleasure, he received a confident grin in response.

"What're we waiting for, then?"

Both the Strike and the White Comet then commenced their attack.

tbc


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Decisive Strike

Ordinarily, neither Reia nor his current ally would have stood a chance against their current opponents, at least not both at once. Fenris didn't have much in the way of mobility and evasion capabilities – a common weakness of quadruped ACs. And even with its impressive defense, Reia was already doubtful whether she could survive Rim Fire and Bullet Life, the quad AC engaging them, _alone_. Having South Nail – the purple, reverse-jointed one - around would only have made things worse.

As for Eon, White Comet seemed to lack in defense what it had in raw speed. Neither did it help that his dual machine guns required him to get in close range, which would surely mean getting torn apart by Bullet Life's own. Even now he was hard-pressed to dodge South Nail's linear rifle fire on top of the missile swarms Bullet Life was sending his way. He'd emptied his anti-missile extensions just earlier, and his AC's onboard AMS, though decent, wasn't that great on its own.

There was a high risk that Borne City would be their graves…

…At least, there would, were it not for their assailants' unfamiliarity with the Strike. Its outstanding mobility, courtesy of the Aile pack's powerful thrusters, allowed Reia to almost effortlessly dodge the countless missile volleys fired at him. Even the ones he failed to notice were shot down by the Vulcan guns installed in the Strike's head. And by this point Rim Fire knew better than to employ the dual FINGERs on him – there was no way machine gun fire could come close to hitting him with that kind of speed. And most important of all, neither Reia nor Eon had to worry about civilian casualties thanks to the earlier evacuation.

_I'm just lucky they've never seen this guy before, then,_ Reia thought as he performed a barrel roll, evading an oncoming shot from South Nail's linear rifle. He then aimed his beam rifle to return fire, but –

"Hey Reia, could you stop that!" Stella moaned uncomfortably. "I'll puke on you if you keep on doing that!"

Reia grumbled to himself; if she hadn't been sitting on his lap, he'd have forgotten about Stella completely. He couldn't blame her for complaining, though – she was an AC pilot, too, but neither of them had ever piloted an AC with Strike's capabilities. "I did tell you to hang tight, didn't I?" he recalled, the grin on his face at odds with his apologetic tone. Just then, though –

"Hey, look out!" called Eon over the commlink.

Too late, though; the missile salvo hit the Strike squarely in the chest area, causing it to fall at an alarming rate. It was just lucky Reia managed to activate the thrusters, saving themselves from the crash in the process. Which was a good thing, too; while the Strike may have been able to survive that fall, neither Reia nor Stella could. But just as Reia was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a warning tone sounded.

"_Remaining battery power: 35%._"

Reia looked at the meter, which was nearing the red zone. It was then that he realized that his Mobile Suit (though he didn't know it was called that), for all its abilities that could have been likened to Human-PLUS, was still inferior to ACs in some areas. For one thing, the Strike's energy and AP gauge seemed to be one and the same. Coupled with the fact that both its main weapons were energy weapons, Reia realized he had to end this quickly.

Meanwhile, a huge cloud of dust covered their current position. All three of his fellow Ravens present – Eon, Rim Fire and Zuben (South Nail's pilot) – watched it with bated breath, the latter two with triumphant smirks on their faces.

"That's what you get for standing in our way…"

Those smirks, though, turned into expressions of utter shock when the dust cleared and Strike had survived without so much a scratch, let alone any visible signs of damage. Thrusters screaming, Reia sped forward at his two opponents with an almost impossible speed. However, he didn't pull out his beam saber and slice off an arm as before, instead flying past into the air; having done so, he then took out the beam rifle mounted on his skirt armor and shot a hole cleanly through Bullet Life's core.

"You... That thing you're piloting..."

Luckily for Rim Fire, he wasn't blown up as the beam somehow miraculously missed the generator. It did, however, take out a large chunk of his AP, causing it to plummet to just above 1000.

"I'll send you both six feet under, where you belong!"

Enraged, he let out a roar as he charged upward at the Strike, dual FINGERs blazing as he launched a FUNI-escorted micro missile volley at it. Rim Fire was convinced his time hadn't come yet, and even if it had, it was not his fate to die at the hands of an ancient weapon such as this.

Reia managed to dodge the missiles, but at the cost of a few of the FINGER rounds punching numerous yet shallow holes all over his AC. With the 11% battery power he had left, he fired shots aimed at both the quad AC's arms, stripping it of its FINGERs as well as whatever weapons it might have hangered. "Well, kid," Reia called to the pilot of the white-and-red AC that had fought alongside him, "They're all yours. Just be quick about it, alright?"

"Wait!" Eon called out to him as the white-and-blue unit prepared to take off. "You're leaving already?" He could hardly believe what he'd just witnessed firsthand; to his knowledge, no AC had any of the abilities this guy's unit just displayed. How could it be that his unit could perform all the amazing feats it just had, yet be unable to finish the battle? Reia must have known what was going through Eon's head, judging from his reply:

"This thing's batteries are nearly dry," he noted with a casual air. "I've only just gotten hold of this thing, and I'm still learning how to work it. You shouldn't have any trouble with them, right?"

"You could at least tell me your name," the other Raven called back to the Strike, which had already turned its back on the city as it prepared to fly away. "Mine's Eon," he added, faltering. "Eon Ivalice…"

Reia hesitated for a moment before deciding to give in. "Reia. Reia Azuchi. Now then... I'd better go, my friends are waiting."

With that, the Strike's boosters came to life once more as it departed, its Phase Shift armor fading away just shortly after it was out of sight. And when it was out of sight, Eon returned his attention to the now-defeated warlord and his consort standing in front of him. Remembering the other Raven's words, he boosted up to the totaled South Nail, keeping his right machine gun trained on the defeated enemy's cockpit area as he made contact. In the meantime, the critically damaged Bullet Life escaped through one of the city gates, leaving the warlord to die alone.

"P-Please!" Zuben pleaded, panicking in his cockpit as he stared down the barrel of White Comet's weapon. "I... I don't want to die!"

"...Idiot. " Eon snorted derisively, hatred and contempt for the warlord coursing through him like poison. "As far as I can tell, this is the only time you've been at Death's door, right? We're both Ravens," he observed offhandedly, with the air of someone commenting that the sky was blue. "We of all people should be familiar with death. _You_ should," he reminded Zuben pointedly, his tone conveying his disgust for the other man. "Seeing as you've had the balls to attack cities like this!"

Zuben said nothing, knowing that what the younger Raven said was right on. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, closing his eyes as hot tears of pure, unadulterated terror began to leak from them. Unfortunately for him, though, the sight did nothing to deflect Eon's fury; if anything, seeing the older Raven cower made him all the more eager to snuff him out right here.

"Fool!" Eon spat. "How do you think the people you killed felt, seeing an AC come to kill them for some stupid, selfish thing! Well..." his voice was barely a whisper now, his sapphire eyes radiating about the same warmth as two icicles. "It's your turn now... I hope you enjoy it, Zuben El Genubi."

"Bye," said the young pilot finally before emptying his remaining ammo reserves on the purple AC. Bullet-ridden, South Nail topped backwards to the ground before the subsequent explosion reduced it to nothing. His objective achieved, Eon stomped on the OB pedal once more as, in a manner befitting his AC's name, he shot up through the city's roof and away into the distance. He'd have quite a story waiting for Evangel…

Meanwhile, the Strike had already returned to the Archangel, which had waited, invisible, just on the outskirts of Borne. And just as had happened in Strike's cockpit earlier, Stella looked around her in awe as she and Reia ejected, scarcely believing that this ship was indeed the long-lost Archangel of the Three Ships Alliance. When she saw the other two units stored in the hangar, she nearly wet herself, too; among them was the immortal Freedom which had a history rivaling that of the ship.

"I can't believe this…" she gushed, eyes as large and as round as billiard balls. "I've only ever seen them in museums…"

But her delight at actually boarding the Archangel was nothing compared to what came next. "No… way…" she whispered as the two of them arrived at the bridge.

Both Murrue and Mu greeted them with smiles on their faces. "Welcome aboard," Murrue gestured around her as she addressed Stella. "I'm Murrue Ramius," she added with a warm smile, introducing herself as Mu made his way to her side. "It's nice to meet you, Stella. Reia's been telling us about you," she quickly added, knowing the younger woman would wonder how she knew her name.

"Mu La Flaga," he too introduced himself with a mischievous grin at Reia. "So, kid," he turned his attention to his fellow pilot, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Hell no – OWWW!" Reia began, but the rest of his words were cut off as Stella practically stomped on his foot. "Dammit, girl," he shot her a dirty look, "What did you do that for!"

"Oops, sorry," replied Stella. Her voice was sickeningly sweet, but the look on her face was one of jealous rage that caused even the hardened Raven to flinch; truly, hell had no fury like a woman scorned.. "It was an accident. Captain," she addressed Murrue once more, but Murrue shook her head with a faint smile before she could continue.

"Call me by my name, Stella. It's been a long time since I've been called 'Captain'," she noted reminiscently. "Anyway, what is it?"

"Can you show me to my room?" requested the younger woman. "Thanks!"

With that, the two women exited the bridge, Stella taking care to stomp on Reia's toes a second time on her way out, which Mu laughed indulgently at. "So, kid," he addressed the younger pilot once the ladies were out of earshot, "_Is_ she your girlfriend? She obviously likes you a lot…" In fact, in Mu's opinion, the girl _definitely_ considered herself to be his girlfriend, judging from her reaction at his denial.

At the question, Reia slowly shook his head. "No," he replied, this time with a more serious tone. "More like a cute little sister who I have the occasional wet dreams over... Wait," he checked himself, a startled expression on his face at the last bit he mentioned. "Did I really just mention that out loud?"

At this, both pilots really did lose themselves to a fit of laughter. As he ended up clutching the captain's chair for support, Mu noted that Kira had been much more reluctant to discuss such… sensitive topics, whereas Reia was much more open, almost to the point of being rude. In short, Reia was definitely _not_ Kira, however much he might look – and pilot – like him.

At Tartus, meanwhile, the footage captured by White Comet on its mission was being reviewed in the briefing room, just as Caspian's had been. Eon's fellow Tactical Unit members let out collective gasps at the video's highlights, especially when it reached his and Reia's duel with Bullet Life and South Nail. In particular, when the Strike both literally and metaphorically disarmed the former with a few well-placed beam rifle shots, eyes could have popped out.

But none of them was as shocked as the brunette seated at the leftmost corner of the table – Caspian, who realized what could have happened had Reia decided not to be so forgiving. It was at that moment that he slumped forward onto the desk in his embarrassment and shame. _He went easy on me…_ thought the usually haughty Raven. _That could easily have been me…_

Finally, when the video ended, Evangel gave Eon a perplexed and slightly apologetic look. "I didn't really think you'd meet him today…" he trailed off. "Well, Raven," he suddenly regained his usual levelheaded demeanor in addition to a congratulatory grin, "Thanks to the combat data you brought home, your reward just doubled," he grinned at his bewildered subordinate, "Not counting the bounty on South Nail."

Eon muttered an automatic thank you in response. He was having a hard time wondering why someone who seemed so nice would turn on one of his own subordinates. The question was at the tip of his tongue, waiting to be asked, but the young Raven thought better of it. _I'll just ask him next time. Hopefully these guys won't be around when I do,_ he thought as he glanced at his comrades seated all around the briefing room's long table. He figured they wouldn't be too happy if he questioned the decision to liquidate Reia, and he couldn't afford to die yet – not least because his sisters still needed him.

After giving out a few more orders, Evangel dismissed them. As Eon started to make his way to his quarters, however, the senior Raven put a hand on his shoulder. "Is something bothering you?" he asked. And without waiting for a reply, he added: "It's Reia, isn't it?"

Eon sighed. "Yes, sir," he began slowly. "I'm just having trouble believing you'd have him executed, that's all… I mean," he added quickly upon seeing Evangel's raised eyebrows, "He's obviously quite skilled, so why would you want him gone?" _Not to mention you seem to be a good commander…_ he added in his head as an afterthought, in spite of himself.

To his surprise, however, Evangel gave a small, somewhat sad smile. "It wasn't my idea," he told the newbie. "The order came from HQ, I couldn't do anything," he added. Regardless of what Jack-O and the others may say about him, he really _did _feel regret at having to get rid of such a capable pilot, but it was his duty to carry out the orders of the higher-ups – no matter how incompetent they were. Even then, it was one thing to know his place, and another thing entirely to be happy with it.

"I see…" Eon seemed somewhat disappointed and disgusted by the answer. He already knew what kind of scum ran the major factions of the war, but that did little to lessen his displeasure with their actions. "Well, sir… goodbye for now."

He turned to leave the room, but Evangel stopped him again. "Wait," his commander requested; the younger man cocked his head in his direction. "What we've talked about… That's our little secret. Okay?"

Eon responded with a jerk of his head, which Evangel took to mean as yes. He felt a hint of remorse as he pondered his subordinate's question. The only reason he had joined the Alliance in the first place was because Jack's vision – a society for Ravens, ruled by Ravens – held little concern for everyone else involved. At least Alliance _seemed_ concerned with the people.

_But then… is this really the way to go?_

Never had Evangel asked himself that question more seriously than he did now.

tbc


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Killing an Angel

A few days after the attack on Borne, in one of the Diorgan Distribution Center's dormitories…

"Guess that's it for today."

The training cockpit opened up as a Raven, a tall, thin male in early adulthood, emerged. He'd clearly just finished a tough, exhausting training session, judging from how his brow glistened with sweat as he walked over to the water fountain. And it _was_, too; it involved him fighting – and narrowly losing – against a _certain_ unit that quite literally clawed its way out of the grave. Not to mention, it was piloted by someone who had until recently been one of their own, and was EXTREMELY capable at that. When he had finished drinking, he sank into a nearby chair and leaned all the way back.

_That thing was tough…_ thought the Raven to himself as he sat there, gasping for air, clearly still exhausted from the simulation. He'd just fought – and lost, however barely – against someone who used to be one of the Tactical Unit's best. The pilot in question also managed to humble Caspian, which was saying something considering how prideful he usually was - a feat that earned this particular Raven's respect. He and Evangel both knew that he was a better pilot than Caspian. It was for this reason that he led the HQ forces instead of serving under Evangel: the latter told him his skills would be better suited leading his own troops into battle.

However, the real reason Rick Sforza – known to his comrades as Mollycoddle – chose that particular opponent for a practice duel was because his upcoming mission, though not yet official, entailed its destruction. Not only was its pilot a betrayer, but the kind of power he and his new allies held was one Alliance couldn't afford to be used against them. Still, it seemed a bit of a waste to simply destroy the legendary AC, or whatever it was, given its status as an important bit of lost technology.

After several minutes, Rick heard a soft chime coming from the laptop sitting on his bed: _1 new message_. His next mission, which he had been practicing for, was laid bare when he opened it.

_**EXECUTE AC STRIKE**_

_**CLIENT: **__Alliance_

_**AREA OF OPERATIONS: **__Camp Fortherd_

_**REWARD: **__150000C_

_**OBJECTIVES: **__Destroy AC Strike_

_**ENCOUNTER: **__GAT-X105 Strike, FX-550 Skygrasper, LCAM-01XA Archangel, rest unknown_

The reward was what caught Rick's attention. With that kind of price tag, he could tell HQ was dead set on eliminating the traitor. More importantly, such a reward meant that the target – or targets, as fate would have it – was extremely dangerous. Rick expected and actually desired this; after all, easy shit was for the regular forces to handle, not Ravens such as them. Putting those thoughts aside, he continued reading:

_Good day, Mollycoddle. As you've most likely been told, we need your help assassinating a certain Raven._

_The Raven in question, Reia Azuchi, was a former member of the Tactical Unit who betrayed us, stealing away the lost battleship Archangel in the process. We don't know for sure what his motives are, but they're unlikely to be conducive to our cause._

_As of 1300 hours, the Archangel's current course will take it through Camp Fortherd. Its destination is most likely Circ-City, which we take as confirmation of our suspicions and fears. At any rate, Reia's already proven to be quite a thorn in our side – he needs to go._

_Our strike force is already moving in to engage. However, given the capabilities of our targets, we'd still like the support of our Ravens to ensure success. This will therefore be a joint effort between HQ and the Tactical Unit. Finally, while the destruction of the Archangel or any of its units will increase your reward, destroying Reia and the Strike is priority one. Don't take this mission lightly._

Rick frowned at the last sentence. There were few things that made him wish he was part of the Tactical Unit instead, but this was one of them. Really… since when had he ever taken a mission lightly? In spite of all he had done for the Alliance, in spite of his not-too-shabby leadership of their forces, he still got this sort of treatment. _I wish they'd show me some respect for once,_ he thought bitterly.

Regardless of his complaints, however, Rick put on his pilot suit before heading to the hangar. Maybe when he completed this mission, he'd finally get the respect and recognition that he deserved.

Meanwhile, the Archangel had already managed to pass Camp Fortherd. Reia and Stella were busy running tests in the hangar bay: the former on the Strike, the latter on her AC, which they picked up at the R11 AC garage. Thanks to their newfound reputation, Jack-O personally invited them to Circ-City to discuss a possible alliance with Vertex. But it was that same reputation that made them a prime target for fellow Ravens – which was why they needed to be prepared for battle.

Stella had wanted to commandeer one of the other units on board the ship, but Reia told her just how different those things were compared to an AC – not in terms of controls, but maneuverability and other areas. "The controls aren't too different," he explained, "But it's still a whole new experience compared to piloting an AC. First off," he noted, "These things are WAY more nimble."

"Besides," added Mu, "Some of these Mobile Suits – like the Freedom, over there," he pointed at the winged, powerful-looking unit beside the golden one that belonged to him, "They've got nuclear reactors on them. So if you can't handle it and get blown up…" he left the statement hanging, leaving Stella to comprehend just what would happen then.

And when Reia told her of his… awkward experience when first piloting the Strike, she finally relented, her head bowed in defeat and disappointment. She considered finding a way to equip the Striker Packs onto her AC, but that would take time. For now, the next best thing would be to emulate the Strike's design as much as possible. It would be the closest thing she could manage to actually piloting it herself.

As a result, the setup of her rose-hued AC changed drastically. Stella had always favored lightweight units for their mobility and maneuverability, but her AC had now been created with the intention of mimicking the Strike, specifically with its Aile Striker. The dual KARURA micro missile launchers were ditched in favor of PEGASUS auxiliary boosters, which would go well with the TP boosters equipped on the core – an Over Boost type that also happened to have good defensive stats.

Just then, however, an announcement over the PA system caused all three of them to look up. "_Mu, Reia, Stella… report to the bridge,"_ came Murrue's magnified voice, calm yet unmistakably urgent. The three of them looked at each other and nodded. Judging from her tone, something was about to happen… And her next words pretty much confirmed it.

"_Someone wants to play rough…"_

"That many!" Reia blurted out, outraged as he stared at the main monitor, out into the wasteland. His eyes could've popped out at what he was seeing. Fighter jets, BAT and OWL MTs, and a literal _swarm_ of them at that… he knew perfectly well that that force was meant for them, but its size suggested it could just as easily have been assigned to attack Circ-City.. At the same time, though, a small part of him couldn't help but be surprised; they surely didn't think they could destroy the Archangel with just those forces?

What he saw, however, was nothing compared to what Stella, assuming the role of communications officer, was about to add:

"They've got ACs with them, too," she observed, sitting in the chair directly to the left of the captain's seat. "ACs… Sundial, Raging Torrent, Heaven's Ray, and… _Dual Face!_" She couldn't help but register her shock at the last one. Hadn't Genobee been killed at Borne back when it was still officially called Bayload, just before the suicide weapons attacked? In any case, she displayed the footage on the main monitor for all of them to see.

As this image too was shown, the sight of the all-black, grenade launcher-equipped AC made Reia look twice, too. It seemed that the Archangel and the Strike weren't the only ones that somehow managed to find their way out of their graves. Now the former top-ranker as well as Crest's betrayer, too…? But then he remembered something…

"That's Dual Face, alright," Reia nodded as he told Stella, who looked at him. "But it's not Genobee in there. One of his fanboys, a guy called Mollycoddle…" he trailed off before turning to address Murrue. "Captain, the three of us need to launch," he told her urgently. "There's no way I can deal with that many on my own!"

The brunette woman looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Alright then…" she acknowledged. "Mu," she too addressed her beloved, "You should probably use the Akatsuki now. I can't – no, I _don't_ want to risk you getting shot down again."

She spoke calmly, wearing her usual, warm smile as she said this, but for some reason her eyes seemed to be welling up in fear, almost as if a ghost from the past came to haunt them. But Mu just laughed out loud as he made his way out of the bridge and back to the hangar to join Reia and Stella. Just before he left, he looked back at her and gave a thumbs-up:

"Don't worry. If we're still alive, we still have things to do. I won't let us die." The man once known as the Hawk of Endymion gave his usual, confident grin as he made this promise to his beloved one. "Alright?"

Left alone in the bridge, Murrue began issuing commands to the ship's AI – one of the biggest upgrades it received before they went to sleep and the colony drop destroyed the world as they knew it. She didn't like the idea of commanding the Archangel without the crew, her extended family, at her side, but Kira convinced her they needed to survive in case everyone else died – which indeed happened.

"Archangel, battle mode!"

At the command, all the Archangel's weapons, with the exception of the main Lohengrin blaster cannons, were online and ready to fire. Murrue then turned her attention to the pilots, as she could see on the monitor, had already boarded their units and were preparing to launch. First up was Reia, who immediately requested the Aile Striker. "Systems all green. Go ahead, Reia."

"Reia Azuchi… Strike, launching!"

Likewise, Stella headed out in her AC Dollface, which she designed to copy the Aile Strike's capabilities. When it was Mu's turn to go, Murrue was pleased to see he had taken her advice, commandeering the Akatsuki rather than the Skygrasper he used last time. "Gimme the Shiranui, Murrue," he requested, grinning. "Let's show these guys what we've got!"

"But I can't," Murrue reminded him. "Have you forgotten? You can't use that pack on Earth. You're stuck with the Oowashi," she told him, causing him to facepalm out of frustration. Instead of his preferred Striker Pack, what appeared to be a golden version of the Aile Striker was attached to the back of the golden Mobile Suit. "Good luck out there, Mu," she smiled at him as he stepped onto the catapult.

"Mu La Flaga, Akatsuki… taking off!"

Meanwhile, on the Alliance side of things…

From Dual Face (at least, what looked like Dual Face), Rick could already see that the Archangel had already launched three of its ACs, one of which was not lost technology but a modern AC. Its layout was slightly different, seeing as it mounted the PEGASUS back boosters instead of the micros it usually favored, but he had no problem recognizing it as Dollface, which belonged to Reia's partner. The blue-and-red unit on its right, equipped with a flight pack, was quite obviously the Strike… The gold one, though, he couldn't recognize. "What do you think?" he asked his team members as his face appeared on their monitors. "Should we go for it?"

Caspian glared at him, seemingly offended that he had to ask. "What're you saying! I _owe_ that bastard for what he did to me!" he yelled, recalling the humiliation he had been subjected to on his last mission. Without waiting for orders, he charged ahead, flanked by his personal squad of OWLs. Beside him, Jouster sighed exasperatedly as he contacted Rick. "Sorry about this, MC," he grimaced apologetically, using the short version of Rick's Raven handle.

"He's been hell-bent on taking his revenge on that machine's pilot," continued Caspian's best friend, explaining the reason for the normally arrogant Raven's behavior. "I'm sure you've heard of how badly he got humiliated on his last mission, Evangel couldn't stop talking about it," he thought back, feeling a prickle of annoyance at his commanding officer. Next moment, he too boosted forward to join his comrade.

"So, what should we do?" asked a new voice as the image of a pretty (if haggard-looking) woman, wearing a cream-colored flight suit that complemented her white-blond hair, appeared on his monitor. It was Principal, Sundial's pilot and the only one who hadn't yet decided to make a foolhardy charge. "They'll get themselves killed that way."

Rick gritted his teeth and let out a low growl. He wondered how in God's name Evangel could stand being around that arrogant bastard In the sand-colored AC, given that he wasn't even THAT good. In a tone shaking with barely concealed resentment and rage, he contacted his fellows. "All units… commence the attack. The blue one's our target," he added, "But there's no need to be gentle with the rest of them."

"Yes, sir!"

No sooner had he said this than Rick noticed the Strike aiming its beam rifle at him. He hit the brakes, abruptly killing his boosters and barely managing to evade the beam bolt Reia had sent his way; the missed shot engulfed him in a cloud of dust as it hit the parched earth. He felt a wild exhiliration course through his veins like adrenaline at the sight. The combat data provided by Eon gave him an accurate idea as to what to expect from the Strike and its pilot, but it had always been his experience that simulations were nothing compared to the real thing. With that thought in mind, Rick switched to his left grenade launcher, which went online while he deftly dodged the oncoming beam fire.

_Oh hell YEAH!_

Once the dust had settled, Rick gave his reprisal in the form of a volley from his grenade launcher, which failed to hit its mark when the Strike executed a barrel roll. The party was about to get started…

tbc


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Seed

To Reia and Stella's relief, and to the shock of the Alliance Ravens, Murrue and the Archangel managed to hold their own even as they were swarmed. The masses of Gushawk fighter jets and BAT MTs that came their way were mostly blown to bits by the many missile launchers hidden all over the ship, as well as the Gottfried beam cannons mounted on her legs. Even the CIWS turrets, designed to intercept oncoming missiles, managed to shoot down some of the Gushawks that made the mistake of coming too close, ripping them to shreds as they crashed into the barren waste. Caspian's retinue of OWLs was likewise blown to bits by the Valiant linear cannons mounted on either side of the warship's thrusters.

Mu and Murrue weren't the least bit surprised this turned out to be the case. The Archangel was, after all, a battleship as well as a Mobile Suit carrier, and was therefore designed to take on more than just a swarm of fighter planes. And after having survived those battles, the most notable (and arguably the most terrible) of which involved the Archangel and her crew facing down what could have been described as the Archangel's evil twin, something like this was less than easy – it was an insult.

As for the ACs…

"Dammit!" cursed Reia as he came close to eating one of the purple energy beams discharged by Raging Torrent's rifle. He briefly considered calling Mu or Stella for some assistance, but one look around told him they too had their hands full; not far away from where he and Caspian were fighting, both Sundial and Heaven's Ray were keeping Mu busy. Even when the Oowashi detached itself from its parent Mobile Suit and operated as a fighter jet, raining plasma on both of its lightweight opponents, the ace was quite clearly having one hell of a time fighting them off.

Mu somersaulted in midair, managing to dodge the vertical missiles Sundial fired at him. In the process, though, he took a direct hit from Heaven's Ray's SILKY plasma rifle, straight to the cockpit area; shock was etched in every line of his face as he couldn't quite believe it. In his cockpit, meanwhile, Jouster wore a triumphant grin...

"Hmph… So much for _you_."

…That grin, however, turned into confusion when several seconds had passed and the Akatsuki still hadn't exploded in a shower of gold. Mu laughed as the plasma bolt that had hit him was suddenly reflected at its originator.

Reia was watching this, astonished at the sight. But suddenly –

"Hey, you!" Caspian called as he aimed his SHADE at the Strike. "Don't ignore me!"

Reia looked up, nearly getting shot through the chest by Caspian's own laser – he would have been, had he not managed to take flight just in time. Good thing, too; that last shot would have blown him up had it managed to score. Cursing himself for absentmindedness, he redirected his attention back to the bright yellow AC, returning the favor with his own beam rifle.

A bit further from where Reia and Caspian were dueling and from where Mu and the Akatsuki were being double-teamed, Stella and Dollface likewise had their hands full with Mollycoddle's AC. The Dual Face tribute was firing an incessant barrage of grenades at the bright pink AC, who, while managing to avoid getting blown apart by the GLs, was still experiencing too many near-misses for comfort. Even though the PEGASUS boosters allowed Stella to imitate the Aile Strike's function as a high mobility unit, Dollface managed only a pale imitation at best. For one thing, she still lacked the flight capabilities Reia had learned to abuse quite effectively.

"You jackass!" Stella yelled her rage at the ebony-black AC as she deftly evaded the shots from its assault rifle, returning fire with her right arm-mounted Karasawa as she did so. "Who the hell are you, and why are you piloting Dual Face!?" The dead Raven as well as his lover had been one of her friends, so she didn't take kindly to other people impersonating him or even worse, tarnishing his memory.

Rick was taken aback. He knew he was bound to get attention for piloting an AC identical to that of the former top-ranker, but he honestly hadn't expected to have upset anyone like _she_ obviously was. Not that it mattered, anyway; he had his own reasons for piloting the AC Genobee once had, reasons which weren't her, or anyone else's business. So instead of words, rather than uttering even a mocking retort, he responded to her demanding inquiry with a burst of aerial grenades.

Stella tried to dodge the volley, but it caught her off-guard, and though she managed to avert the worst case scenario, the grenade round exploded against Dollface's left shoulder, depriving the rose AC of its left arm and the laser blade with it. The impact tossed her around in her cockpit, leaving her with an angry purple bruise where her head slammed hard into the monitor. Blinking through the pain, she was barely able to avoid the second shot, which would surely have been the _coup de grace_, fired her way. This however left her open to the burst of assault rifle fire that managed to tear holes all over her AC's armor.

"_Danger, AP at 10%._"

Elsewhere, Reia and Caspian were still going at it, trading fire with both their energy weapons. Surprisingly for a machine its size, Raging Torrent managed to dodge most of the shots the Strike fired its way, and was hardy enough to take direct hits when they did manage to find their mark. Though somewhat wasted by its pilot's mediocre skill, Raging Torrent IV (and even its earlier incarnations) wasn't at all a subpar design.

The Strike, too, was evading the SHADE beams with little difficulty, with Reia going out of his way to be flashy by executing barrel rolls and somersaults as he returned fire. Even when he didn't manage to dodge, the Strike's anti-beam shield blocked the shots. As for the shots fired by his opponent's left arm GAST rifle, he purposely left himself open to a few… which hardly dented his Mobile Suit's armor at all. He laughed to himself as he imagined Caspian's expression while seeing this.

"_Caution – unknown energy signature approaching from the southeast. Distance: 300._"

Reia was shocked as he turned in that direction. It was still a bit far, and the smoke rising around obscured its appearance somewhat, but there was no mistaking the identity of the rose-hued AC approaching him. It was Dollface, though he couldn't imagine what could have put it in such a state. Now that it was closer, he could see that not only did it sport the telltale smoke and sparks that indicated its critical damage levels, the left arm was missing as well. "S… Sorry, Reia," Stella grinned weakly as her slightly injured face appeared in the monitor of Strike's cockpit. "Looks like I messed up."

Reia merely nodded, though in truth he felt partly responsible for what happened. He should have known Stella's attachment to Genobee and Agraya would get in her way when she took on Mollycoddle. "We'll talk about it later," he told her, forcing himself to remain calm as he spoke. "Get back to the Archangel for now." The badly damaged Dollface obeyed, turning its back on the battle as it prepared to return to the ship.

Someone else was boosting behind her, though, with his right shoulder-mounted GL aimed and ready to fire. "Don't think you can just run from me…" Rick muttered to himself as his AC obtained a lock on the retreating Dollface.

And before Reia could rush to her aid, Caspian brought his sand-yellow AC directly in the face of the Strike. "Where d'you think you're going, hmm?" sneered the arrogant Tactical Unit pilot at his opponent. It seemed today was finally his lucky day.

Reia, though, had other ideas. He stared, horrified, as the copy of Dual Face prepared to fire its last, killing shot at the spunky young woman he had come to love as a kid sister, while rolling in midair as Raging Torrent fired yet another laser his way. To make matters worse, it was right there that the wail of an alarm filled his cockpit; he automatically looked at his remaining battery power and saw, to his horror, that he was nearing the red zone. He bowed his head in disgust at himself, closing his eyes in shame.

_Reia, you idiot,_ he scolded himself. _That's what happens when you show off needlessly!_

He and the Strike were dangerously close to their limits now. The Phase Shift armor that rendered the Strike nearly impervious to physical attacks – ballistic, kinetic, explosive, you name it – understandably drained a large amount of battery power, and his earlier… exhibitions… did nothing to help. Regardless, he couldn't just sit by and watch Stella be blown apart by some Genobee wannabe. And by the time another blast missed Dollface by a hair, his mind was made up.

_You'll have to get past me first!_

Reia opened his eyes as in his mind's eye, a lavender-hued seed appeared to fall, bouncing once before exploding in a flash of color and light. "OUT OF MY WAY!!" he screamed at the heavyweight AC in front of him as he drew both beam sabers, hacking off Raging Torrent's left arm as it swung the laser blade which until then had stayed in its core's hanger. Likewise the right arm went sailing, chopped off at the shoulder when the AC tried to fire a cheap shot right at Strike's cockpit area. Next to go were the legs, and finally the head.

Raging Torrent was left a wreck as its torso lay pathetically on the arid land, its head and all four of its limbs severed by the SEED-enhanced Raven. Inside his cockpit, Caspian was beside himself with fury at being humiliated yet again. "Damn you!" he cursed Reia with a voice that more resembled the bark of a dog gone mad. "I'll make you pay for sure!"

Normally Reia would have taunted and laughed at the opponent whom he had humbled in the blink of an eye, but his SEED mode prevented him from noticing any and all distractions. He barely noticed his defeated opponent as he shot straight toward Mollycoddle, little more than a blinding white blur.

_BLAM!_

"Reia…" Stella whispered blankly in shock and in gratitude at what he had done, just before she entered the ship's hangar. _Thank you…_

The last grenade Mollycoddle fired, which he intended to finally destroy Dollface, was instead blocked by the Strike who took it directly to the chest and began to fall as a result. And though the Gundam managed to land on its feet, that grenade just happened to be the last straw for its battery; the brightly-colored machine suddenly turned a dull gray as it Phase Shifted down. The imitation of Dual Face, seeing this as an opportunity to finally complete its objective, aiming its left grenade launcher, which had just one more shot, at the now-underpowered Strike.

A few moments later, the Strike discarded its Aile Striker, which fell uselessly to the ground. Reia assumed that the neither the Aile's thrusters nor its weapons would continue to work now that the battery had been drained. Luckily, when he checked his unit's weapon systems, there was still one remaining option to use. He gripped both joysticks firmly as he decided to take that chance, causing a pair of combat knives, which until then had been hidden in the Strike's legs, to pop out and find their way into his unit's hands. At that moment, Mollycoddle too decided to capitalize on his opportunity, sending one last, massive fireball hurtling alarmingly at him…

…Though it missed as the Strike jumped to its left and began running at him. Without a moment's hesitation, Reia drove both knives into Dual Face's core while deliberately missing the cockpit area. Not that Mollycoddle got off easy; as it was, small explosions ripped through the all-black AC, bringing it to its knees as if in submission toward its vanquisher. And when Jouster and Principal tried to make a beeline for their comrade's downed ACs, the Akatsuki as well as its attack drone intercepted them.

"Your fight's with me," said Mu simply as he contacted both of them.

Meanwhile, Rick was bleeding from a number of fragments and shrapnel that buried themselves in his flight suit, in addition to sustaining bruises of all sorts all over his body. Even then, though, he recognized that the other Raven missed his cockpit, perhaps making a mistake… no. As the footage given to him by Eon and Caspian of the Tactical Unit showed, he would have aimed at the appropriate areas had he wanted to kill. The only question was –

"W… Why?" this as Rick contacted Reia, who seemed strange somehow. While the other warrior would usually be wearing a friendly or perhaps mocking smile on his face, the visage he had on right now was one of grim determination. That the pupils were missing in the vivid, purple-hued irises of his eyes was downright disturbing. "Why… didn't you kill me?"

"Easy," Reia replied lightly, though his expression didn't change at all. "I don't _need_ to kill you, do I? I only kill when it's the mission objective, or when it's personal. Which," his eyes narrowed into slits, "I'll have to discuss with you."

"Frankly, after what you did to Stella, you should be dead right now," he continued, his voice radiating all the warmth of an arctic wind; Rick too felt as if his blood had turned into ice and his legs into jelly. "I'm letting you off easy for that this time. But try hurting her that way again and I won't be so forgiving."

Reia's tone was civil, matter-of-fact, but Rick knew perfectly well that those words weren't a threat – they were a promise. Finally, after several moments, when his point had clearly been made, Reia and the Strike gave their backs to him and his ruined AC, executing a mighty, booster-assisted jump that landed him right inside the Archangel's open launch bay. A second later, the Akatsuki, which had somehow escaped even the slightest sign of damage, likewise returned.

"We're falling back, guys," Rick reluctantly ordered what was left of his squad which, in addition to his fellow Ravens, comprised a handful of Gushawks and BATs that somehow managed to avoid destruction at the Archangel's hands. If the sheer numbers they had just earlier weren't enough to complete their mission, the few that remained of them now would accomplish even less. Besides, even though Principal and Jouster's ACs were still functioning, their ammo had most likely been depleted in their battle with the Akatsuki.

_Sorry, Genobee… I've failed you._

Rick watched the skies for their transport, the shame of his wounded pride eating away at his insides.

tbc


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Eternal Memories

Anthesphoria City, home to approximately ten thousand people. Like all other cities that currently thrived on the surface world, it was enclosed in a dome, but one made up of countless screens displaying the outside. Its beauty could also be seen from the outside by visitors, who described it as a neon light show in the night.

As a result, the ambience was quite unlike the dreary atmosphere shared by Borne and Circ, not to mention other cities controlled by the warring factions. This came largely as a result of the stance of neutrality the local government had taken – fitting, considering its current chairperson was descended from the Orb Union's Sahaku bloodline. And while their motto – "Fire not the first shot but the last" – seemed different at first glance to that of the nation of old, in spirit they were the same.

Woe to the warlord who dared attack; while Anthesphoria had non-aggression pacts with both Vertex and Alliance, it had its own private army comprised mostly of seasoned MT and fighter pilots. Not to mention, at the city's disposal was an exclusive battalion of Ravens with skill rivaling that of the best in either faction. And of these Ravens, three out of four of their most skilled piloted excavated machines like those on board the Archangel. Leading them was the chairwoman herself: Romina Sahaku, piloting the ancient Mobile Suit that had once belonged to her clan's matriarch.

It was a good thing no one from outside the city knew about their militia, or Sahaku would have gotten some funny looks from both Jack and Evangel – among others. Not that it would have stopped her, anyway; as the city's founder noted, such power was needed to defend the city's ideals. And considering the scenes one living in the city witnessed daily, wherein residents carried out day-to-day activities with happy, content looks on their faces, no one in the city's defense force doubted that such ideals were worth fighting and dying for. This was readily apparent in that, including the Ravens, most if not all of their military were volunteers, as opposed to the other armed groups which relied on hired guns.

And yet, at the moment, all of Anthesphoria's citizens were oblivious to the awakening that was in progress in Hangar AX760, where an excavated warship was stored. It resembled the Archangel at a glance, but in place of the Archangel's legs was a forward bow that concealed its main cannon, with the Mobile Suit catapults instead located on either side of the bridge and right in front of the boosters. And in contrast to the Archangel, which was painted white with red highlights, this ship was bright pink with black highlights. Its designation as a Minerva-class battleship marked it as having belonged to ZAFT.

The LHM-BB02 Proserpina, one of ZAFT's old flagships.

One of the stasis pods inside its medical bay opened up, releasing clouds of opaque, white gas. Beside it, what looked like a pink beach ball sprung to life, it's ear flaps flopping up and down as if in great excitement at what had just happened. A second after, a pink-haired woman dressed in a kimono reminiscent of a kunoichi's field uniform, followed. The woman wore a smile on her face the matched the exuberant behavior of her robotic companion, showing that she too was happy to finally be awake.

"Mr. Pink," she spoke to her pet, "We should get out of this place."

"_Okay! Okay!_" chirped the ball-robot with such enthusiasm its voiced cracked slightly. It bounced twice rapidly on the spot before leading the way out of the medical bay, pausing just long enough for its owner to follow it outside before hopping at top speed to the ship's bridge.

"Pinky, wait for me!" called the young woman, but it was in vain; sighing to herself, she too dashed all the way to the command bridge where the robot called Mr. Pink lay, shuddering slightly, on the captain's chair. It bounced once as countless cables shot out from under the chair and linked with the sockets exposed by the now-opened ears. A low rumble could be heard all over the battleship as, after over two hundred years, it came to life once again.

"_Taking off! Taking off!_"

The floor shook slightly as the Proserpina's bridge lowered and was bathed in semidarkness. Terminals and panels began to glow all over where the other crewmembers would be stationed as in the middle, Mr. Pink lay completely still. Then, without warning, it shone a bright pink that filled the whole bridge with light. And when it spoke, it did so in a clear voice unlike its usual chatter:

"_Requesting permission for launch…_"

Meanwhile, at the nearby control tower, the watchman, a bored, haggard-looking blond who looked to be in his early thirties, was reading a paperback book with his feet up on the control panel in front of him. Their job was routine enough: man the control tower in three-hour shifts each, clear transports for take-off and landing, report if something was unusual… that sort of thing. Not that there was usually anything out of the ordinary, anyway. Put simply, their job was mind-numbing, and a major letdown for those who had enlisted in Anthesphoria's defense force looking forward to piloting MTs – a BAT or even a plain fighter jet in his case – or even ACs.

Just then, however, one of the hangars caught his attention. The roof of _that_ particular hangar was opening as something huge was rising out of it. What was worse, before his astonishment was able to sink in, the center of the dome's roof opened up and refused to shut in spite of the commands he repeatedly punched in on his panel. Neither could he contact the ship unless it contacted him first – which had been the exact same case with the excavated Mobile Suits their elite Ravens commanded.

With little choice left, the watchman reached for the phone beside him and picked up the receiver. Then, with a trembling hand, he punched in the number for the Anthesphoria Defense Committee. What he was going to say was quite unlikely to please any of his superiors, but… things had already gone to hell. A little more wouldn't have made much of a difference. He only hoped that if it came to that, it wouldn't be _his_ head that would end up rolling.

"Get me the Chairwoman…," he muttered, unable to fully suppress the tremor in his voice, "Something's come up."

It was just his luck. When he joined their military, it was his one wish to be able to assist in the defense of this tiny paradise he and so many others had come to call home. He would have died if it were necessary…

And at that last thought, he smiled grimly to himself. Whatever happened to him now, he would have died anyway if they experienced an attack and Fate dealt him a bad hand. He swallowed nervously, feeling the sensation of a bucket of ice in his stomach, as he waited for their commander-in-chief and whatever sentence she saw fit to give him.

Meanwhile, tensions were running high at Vertex headquarters. Word got around that Jack was expecting some guests, which meant security had to be beefed up. In fact, at this very moment, Sorcerer, one of Vertex's top Ravens, led a mixed squad of TERMITEs and attack choppers on patrol in the heart of the city. Given their guests' status (one of them, anyway) as Alliance defectors, it wouldn't have been surprising for Alliance to send someone over to kill them – though how they would blow up something as big as the Archangel with a mere squad of ACs was anyone's guess. As the battle just yesterday proved, even the entire Tactical Unit couldn't manage it.

Of course, they had another, slightly more self-serving motive for stepping up their security measures. Given the Archangel crew's history with Alliance – one of them, in fact, having been a member of the Tactical Unit – it was entirely possible the Archangel was to be the Trojan Horse to usher in Vertex's downfall. If the supposed defectors tried to pull such stunts here, they'd find themselves facing off against Vertex's top Ravens – not to mention those piloting the mass-produced ACs and MTs. And regardless of their skill, or the power they wielded in the form of their ancient weapons, even they wouldn't be able to fight their way out of Circ.

Debarking the ship, Reia and company they were greeted by exactly three people. The first, a hulking, silver-haired man who looked to be in his prime, Reia had little trouble recognizing as Jack-O himself. The second, who had jet-black hair and who wasn't quite as large as Jack, was probably Crow. As for the last member of their welcoming committee, a small, white-blond haired young woman on Jack's left… Reia didn't recognize her. Given that there weren't any female Ravens listed as being part of Vertex, he simply assumed she was related to either Jack or Crow.

Finally, after several awkward moments of both parties sizing each other up, Jack spoke first:

"Welcome to Vertex," Jack greeted them formally, his face a stoic mask. "Reia… Azuchi, is it?" he asked, addressing the brown-haired Raven specifically. "I've heard some incredible things about you, Raven." He paused for a moment, looking directly at the Archangel. "What you've brought with you is proof of that."

This caused Reia to grin in spite of himself. He didn't like Jack much due to the senior Raven's fixation with rules and regulations, but praise from a fellow warrior such as him really did help raise one's ego. Regardless of Reia's personal feelings for him, Jack had his respect.

Just then, Stella spoke up. "Err… Shouldn't we all get acquainted, first?" She nodded sideways at Murrue and Mu, both of whom had slightly nervous smiles on their faces. "These are –"

"Maria Vernes," finished Murrue. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Neo Roanoke," added Mu, albeit with just a hint of hesitation. _Never thought I'd be using the name again…_

At the statement, Jack-O's expression flickered slightly. "Right. This is Crow," he glanced briefly at the man on his right, who nodded. "My right hand. And this one," he added with a hint of pride, this time referring to the girl, "Is Bathory. She's one of our better pilots."

"Nice to meet you, Bathory," offered both Stella and Murrue, but the girl remained unresponsive. All throughout their meeting, her gaze was fixed on the ground, leaving the two older women to wonder if something was wrong. Finally, after several awkward moments, she raised her head to look at both of them and managed a weak smile.

"..."

Finally, Jack broke the silence. "I expect you're all tired from your journey. We'll talk later," he said as he turned to leave, both Crow and Bathory following suit. "The training area's available if you feel like it, though," this he added on his way out. He didn't want to come on too strong, but sooner or later it would be necessary to see exactly how strong their newfound comrades were.

Meanwhile, in the northeastern Abax Plain, just on the outskirts of Anthesphoria…

"_Warning: enemy units detected to the north. Distance: 1000._"

The pink-haired woman sighed as Mr. Pink made this announcement through the Proserpina's PA system. The monitor showed no less than thirty BAT MTs ready to intercept the battleship. Leading them were what appeared to be two Mobile Suits: a lightweight-looking one with a bright orange color scheme, and a purple middleweight. "Looks like they're not just gonna let us go, huh, Mr. Pink?" she smiled sadly.

"Prepare our ascent," she instructed her robotic companion. Mobile Suits couldn't usually fly, and she highly doubted any of the units could follow the Proserpina once it took to the skies. She considered just going out there and disabling the opposition herself, but she still wanted to save that as a last resort.

"There she is," said Mumu, the orange AC's pilot, as she set her sights on the hot pink battleship right in front of him. She had to admit, ancient weapons were rather… impressive-looking. She'd seen footage of the excavated AC and the warship that guy from Alliance managed to acquire, noting that this particular warship bore a resemblance to the other one. "Alright boys, bring her down!"

The Proserpina's bridge rumbled violently as the BATs attacked. It was rendered unable to ascend as a result, the sub-engines having been the target of the MTs' attacks. Again, this recent development elicited a sigh from the woman in the captain's chair. She'd hoped to be able to leave without incident, especially since she disliked fighting. Her battle skills weren't skills she enjoyed having to rely on, nor did she feel particularly proud of how she acquired them.

But judging from the strike force she'd encountered, escape seemed out of the question now. "Mr. Pink, I'll need to launch," she told her pet robot. "Lower the bridge when I get out, okay? Try not to fire on any of them…" this she said as she prepared to exit through the door. "I'll handle this."

Quickly she made her way to the ship's Mobile Suit hangar, where her unit awaited. Though there were a few differences here and there, it was otherwise the same Freedom that had been stored onboard the Archangel. The most notable addition that set it apart from the original unit were the dual weapon pods mounted right beside the wings which held its signature plasma cannons. Beam boomerangs, which doubled as beam sabers, were also mounted in both of its shoulders. And finally, the impulse cannon in its abdomen was taken from the X20A Strike Freedom, rather than the original. All in all, this Freedom seemed to have been built with this woman as its intended pilot.

She took a lift going up to its chest, the top of which opened to reveal the pilot seat. And as she got on it, the seat sank bank into the unit as the chest panel closed.

Its owner safely inside, the console displayed a startup screen as it came to life:

**MOBILE SUIT NEO OPERATION SYSTEM**  
**G**eneration  
**U**nsubdued  
**N**uclear  
**D**rive  
**A**ssault  
**M**odule  
**G.U.N.D.A.M Complex**  
**_Series AVTC-TX Eternal Freedom LA-SE3P_**

**Z.A.F.T**

"Power flow optimal, systems all green…" stated the woman as she carefully inspected each of her partner's systems. She had been taught that in situations like these, even the slightest flaws in the system could spell doom in combat. Besides, she just woke up, and didn't want to go back to sleep, _permanently_, so soon. She closed her eyes and uttered a brief prayer as the launch catapult opened up.

"ZGMF-X20AE… Lacus Clyne-Yamato, Eternal Freedom, launching!"

Lacus stomped on the pedal, causing her Mobile Suit to rocket forward, taking on a pink-and-black color scheme as it did so. Again she closed her eyes, this time addressing the one most dear to her, beseeching him to let her end this as quickly and as bloodlessly as possible.

_Kira… give me strength._

tbc


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Pink Princess of Freedom

Through the eyes of the Eternal Freedom, Lacus stared at the enemy she was about to go up against. At least thirty airborne units resembling a cross between the old Earth Alliance's Jet Striker pack and the Mobile Armor form of Orb's Murasames were there, all peppering the Proserpina with purple energy beams while two Mobile Suits – one orange, the other purple – looked on. She assumed that the Mobile Suits in question were the leaders of the attack force, yet was somewhat puzzled at their seeming disinclination to attack.

She really didn't like the fact that she was forced to become a Mobile Suit pilot, and she was even less amused, not to mention less comfortable, with exactly how she acquired her level of skill. But right now, Lacus knew it would be a simple matter to neutralize her assailants. The only question was whether or not she would shoot to kill.

_I will not kill anymore… And I will not let others kill…_

These words, spoken by her beloved in another life, came back to her now. If at all possible, Lacus wanted to honor her beloved's desire to limit casualties on the battlefield. Despite her newfound aptitude as a Mobile Suit pilot, she remained a gentle soul who still wanted to sing 'the song of peace'.

But then, she had learned the hard way that some people just needed killing.

Memories flashed before her eyes as she reflected on this realization.

_Whatever happens now, I've won! When Jachin self-destructs, GENESIS will fire! The earth will burn, and the screams of the victims will ignite battle anew!_

She remembered dueling, and then finally defeating, an insane, omnicidal maniac – a man calling himself The Crucible who sought to usher in the end of the world.

_I'm scared, so scared… I DON'T WANNA DIE!_

She recalled facing a tragic destroyer made to pilot a gigantic engine of destruction and terror – in a city that burned at its feet.

_Is it so wrong of me to cause pain for one moment, so that I can create a world where pain does not exist? Does that justify you trying to ostracize the Destiny Plan?_

Finally, the last memory that came to mind was of her staring down a man who had been ZAFT's Supreme Council Chairman, and then picking apart his vision.

It was from these memories, and others like it, that Lacus Clyne had learned the lesson that sometimes one needed to kill in order to protect.

Not that knowing that helped make it easier to kill.

Even in the circumstances wherein she recognized the need to vanquish her enemies, she never once took pleasure in the act of taking a life. Right now, her biggest dilemma was whether to disable the adversaries currently opposing her – as Kira would've done – or grant them the final boon of death.

And it was at that moment, her moment of contemplation, when her adversaries chose to hail her.

"_Attention, pilot of unknown unit,_" said a female voice in an accented, self-assured, and commanding tone. "_This is Mumu, head of the independent warlord group the Wheels of Dawn. You are hereby instructed to surrender your unit and your assault ship to us. If you do not comply, you will be terminated. Decide carefully – this will be your only warning._"

Lacus frowned. With her inherited combat prowess, she highly doubted her present adversaries would be able to take her, least of all in her current machine. Different as it was from both Kira's original unit, and the upgraded version he piloted in the Second War, the ZGMF-X20AE Eternal Freedom was powerful in its own right. It only had half the number of DRAGOON units present in the Strike Freedom, and discarded the hip-mounted railguns to make way for two of those, but was far from harmless – especially since its DRAGOONs also doubled as lightwave shield generators.

In short, by sacrificing some of the formidable offensive capabilities its predecessors – the original X10A Freedom and the upgraded X20A Strike Freedom – had been known and feared for, the Eternal Freedom had become capable of putting up an ultimate, absolute defense that rendered it capable of surviving anything short of GENESIS. In fact, if the design specs were to be believed, even a blast from GENESIS wouldn't have been beyond the barrier's ability to block… though it would have had the minor drawback of overloading the suit's reactor.

Capable of unleashing a barrage of pure destruction while remaining invulnerable to enemy attack, the Eternal Freedom could have been considered a mechanized angel of death. This was something only a bare few had had the misfortune of finding out the hard way – something Mumu and her compatriots were about to learn.

"All units, attack!"

This next order came from Mumu to her subordinates, all of whom were quick to obey. Gushawks and BATs alike unleashed a hailstorm of missiles and beams at the ancient weapon, which until then had interposed itself between them and the wounded Proserpina… a barrage that sadly failed to find its mark.

Lacus quickly utilized her Freedom's High Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) mode to get out of the way, all the while launching her own reprisals courtesy not only of her beam rifles, but also in the form of her beam boomerangs which either clipped the wings of her attackers, or outright destroyed them. A BAT pilot barely had time to scream as the E-Freedom appeared right next to it, eyes flashing red, before his machine shuddered violently as its wings were taken out, sending it plummeting into the barren wasteland below.

Inside the E-Freedom's cockpit, she shook her head; she'd have preferred to disable them all, but even had she disabled the fighter jets, their pilots would have been killed by the inevitable crash. Those piloting the Mobile Armors were somewhat luckier; most of them were able to crash-land safely on the parched plain, abandoning their wrecked machines immediately after.

The E-Freedom then soared high above the battle and brought its dual back-mounted Balaena plasma cannons and dual beam rifles to bear. Similarly, the DRAGOON pods dismounted from its shoulders and hips while the abdomen-mounted Callidus energy cannon began to charge. Finally, after locking on to her targets as she remembered doing countless times before, Lacus unleashed her entire arsenal on the force below her. The two Mobile Suits, she saw, had managed to evade her attack, but she was able to wipe out huge scores of fighter jets and Mobile Armors.

Inside her AC, Metis, Mumu's eyes widened in shock.

"What…"

"What… is that thing?"

Her voice was shaking in a mixture of awe, fear, rage and frustration, both at their adversary's raw power, and at the sight of her comrades all being slaughtered or otherwise incapacitated en masse. Never before had she seen something with this level of power, let alone been forced to face it in battle.

Just then, a face appeared on her monitor: a pink-haired, blue-eyed young woman, presumably the pilot of the ancient AC they were facing. For some reason, said pilot wore a look of pained regret on her face.

"This is Lacus Clyne-Yamato," the figure began. Mumu merely tilted her head at the name, puzzled, but her consort let out a gasp of mingled disbelief, surprise and admiration. _The Pink Princess of Freedom, huh…? First the Archangel, then her? Doesn't anyone stay dead anymore?_

"Please break off your attack and leave us alone," Lacus requested – no, _pleaded _– with the force assembled before her just now. "I don't want to fight any of you, and I certainly don't want to have to kill any more of you."

Oddly, it sounded to Mumu like she actually meant what she was saying – despite the sentiment of her words being at odds with what she did just now.

"But if you continue attacking like this," continued the Pink Princess, "I won't have any choice."

At those words, an overpowering sense of fury took hold of Mumu. How dare she! To kill as many of her followers with a single stroke, and then having the gall to request that they surrender…? Losing her subordinates was already enough to set her off, but to Mumu, _this_ was adding insult to injury.

_Go to hell, you stinking rust bucket!_

"All units," Mumu practically growled her next order, "Focus your attacks on the warship! Leave the pink AC to me and Zinaida!"

Sure enough, all her remaining Gushawks and BATs turned their attention to the warship, while Mumu herself and her current consort headed straight for the aforementioned pink AC, bombarding it with a storm of missiles, not to mention blasts from Metis' left-arm mounted shotgun and the purple AC's PYTHON energy railgun and its LAMIA2 pulse cannon.

Lacus gritted her teeth as she dodged this follow-up assault while returning the favor with her own beam rifles and DRAGOON units, though her opponents quite easily dodged this. The purple unit in particular somehow managed to evade focused fire from all four DRAGOONs, even managing to launch its own reprisal in the form of successive blasts from its energy railgun, which she dove to avoid…

_Hmph!_

But as she dove, Lacus met the orange unit, Metis, who drew back its right arm with the intent of stabbing the E-Freedom with its parrying blade. In that moment, the E-Freedom's onboard computer then quickly analyzed its opponent and weapons loadout.

"_The unit equips a Phase Shift-coated penetrator spike on its right arm,"_said E-Freedom's computer, in a voice Lacus knew very well._"One hit from it would kill you, Lacus."_

Only with a well-timed somersault did Lacus save herself from certain death. And as she did so, she drew the beam boomerang on her right shoulder, activating its saber mode as she lunged at the enemy Mobile Suit. And as she did so, something extremely disturbing happened. For a moment, she saw her opponent as a different unit…

A blue-and-gray hued one… With a matching blue shield with a gold cross, and a railgun and missile pods mounted on its assault shroud…

...Assault shroud?

_Urgh, no… Focus, Lacus!_

The instant it took Lacus to shake her head in an attempt to clear it was all her opponent needed.

Rather than getting bisected at the waist, Metis managed to come away relatively intact, though it did cost the orange lightweight its right arm – and with it, the RASETSU parrying blade. Mumu gritted her teeth in frustration as she boosted backwards, away from her enemy, so as to avoid the follow-up attack that was bound to be more successful.

"Zinaida, now!" she called.

Just then, Lacus heard ominous beeps sounding in her cockpit: faint at first, but gradually rising in volume.

"_Missiles approaching, please defend."_

The E-Freedom turned… only for no less than a salvo of eleven micro missiles to slam it squarely in the chest. And while the Phase Shift armor prevented the missile volley from doing any real damage, it was still enough to knock the E-Freedom out of the sky and send it crashing into the arid land. Lacus could only watch as the purple unit – Zinaida, as the orange unit's pilot called its pilot – landed at her feet, before leveling both its energy weapons at her and fired.

_Kira… Please forgive me._

But death never came. As though of its own accord, the Eternal Freedom deployed its lightwave barrier, saving Lacus from certain death. Inadvertently, this same act also spared the lives of her opponents; had that last attack connected, the resultant nuclear explosion would undoubtedly destroy the E-Freedom's enemies along with it. And though she couldn't see it, the gobsmacked expressions on both Mumu's and Zinaida's faces were identical.

At that exact moment, though, a far-off explosion jolted Lacus back to her senses.

_Oh no, the Proserpina!_

In her duel with the two suits, she'd forgotten that the already-wounded Proserpina was still fighting off the rest of the enemy forces. A sapphire seed exploded behind her eyes as she took flight once more, once again bringing her entire payload to bear. This time, the kill rate was significantly higher as Lacus no longer deigned to avoid the cockpits of her enemies. And impressive though the ensuing light show may have been, something about it made it horrifying to look at.

Finally, when the lights and beams faded, it was just the three ACs – Fascinator, the maimed Metis, and the still-pristine ancient – left on the battlefield.

"I did warn you," Lacus gazed down at her surviving enemies on the plain as she spoke to them, in a voice she hoped conveyed lack of pleasure at what had just transpired, "I asked for you all to just leave me alone. Why… Why couldn't you have listened?"

In lieu of a response, though, the purple Mobile Suit simply leveled its railgun at the E-Freedom, letting loose a blast that really would have gone right through the cockpit had the latter not dove out of the way in time. Lacus let out a sigh as she put away her beam rifles in favor of the sabers, swooping at both machines as she prepared to slice and dice. Likewise, her opponents met her with a head-on charge, brandishing both laser blade and shotgun in a bid to destroy the monster that had utterly decimated their comrades…

…And when the dust settled, both Fascinator and Metis lay on the ground, only the torsos remaining as the limbs lay scattered in the immediate vicinity.

tbc


End file.
